Balanchine Then and Now

George Balanchine was known for stripping away whatever he felt was fussy and extraneous about classical ballet as he made (and remade) his remarkable collection of works. He was unrelenting in editing his choreography, reworking ballets in the same way your dad might have remodeled your house—sometimes just fixing a sticky doorjamb, sometimes taking everything down to the studs and starting over from scratch. Between the two of them, former PNB co-director Francia Russell and current artistic director Peter Boal know multiple versions of many Balanchine classics. Tonight, in in a lecture-demonstration called "Balanchine Then and Now," using company dancers to illustrate their points, the two will walk us through some of those edits and refinements. Expect to see a few steps from Balanchine's Apollo, which opens April 13 in a double-bill with Carmina Burana. SANDRA KURTZ